Vegan and vegetarian diets might seem like the healthy choice, but scientists now say that avoiding meat could scupper your chances of reaching 100.

According to a major Chinese study, meat eaters are actually more likely to reach the milestone age than their plant-eating counterparts.

Even after accounting for factors like exercise and smoking, people who cut meat out of their diet were 19 per cent less likely to make it to 100 compared to omnivores. 

This trend was the most pronounced among vegans, who are a staggering 29 per cent less likely to become centenarians. 

Vegetarians, who still eat eggs and dairy, were only slightly more likely to make it to 100, with their odds being 14 per cent worse than those of meat eaters.

Even trendy pescetarian diets, which include fish, were linked with reduced odds of reaching 100.

The researchers suggest that these stark differences could be because older people need more nutrients than vegetarian diets can provide.

Lead author Dr Xiang Gao, of Fudan University, says: 'Our study suggests that in adults aged 80 years and older, a diet including both plant and animal-derived foods may better support survival to 100 years than a strictly vegetarian pattern, especially for those who are underweight.' 

The study looked at 5,203 participants in the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, who were all 80 or older when the survey began in 1998. 

Of this cohort, 1,495 lived to be 100 while 3,744 died before becoming centenarians.

Using statistical tools, the researchers analysed the participants' health information to see how much of an impact diet had on the chances of making it to 100.

Overall, participants who kept meat as a part of their diet throughout the study were more likely to become centenarians.

But that does not mean you should switch over to a purely carnivore diet in order to boost your life expectancy. 

Among the individual food groups, daily consumption of vegetables had the biggest impact on the chances of living to 100.

Those who ate vegetables every day were over 84 per cent more likely to live to 100 than those who didn't. 

However, the researchers found that diet didn't affect every older person's lifespan in the same way.

Vegetarians with a healthy BMI for their age were no less likely to make it to 100 than meat eaters.

Even for overweight participants, diet had no statistically significant impact on their chances of survival.

However, daily consumption of meat was associated with a 44 per cent higher likelihood of reaching 100 years old for those in the underweight group.

In their paper, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Dr Gao and his co-authors write: 'A nutrition-balanced omnivorous diet, incorporating animal- and plant-based foods, may better support longevity in the underweight oldest-old.'

Even though reducing meat intake has its own health benefits, in some patients, these positives may be outweighed by the risks of reducing nutrient intake. 

Previous studies have linked vegetarian diets with a higher likelihood of stroke, gallstone disease, and depression.

According to the researchers, although vegetarian diets are associated with improved cardiovascular health, the prevalence of low BMI among the over-80s could make cutting meat too much of a danger.

They conclude: 'Our findings emphasised the importance of a balanced diet from both animal- and plant-derived food for healthy longevity, and future studies focusing on older adults of advanced age are needed for the formulation of dietary guidance for this expanding oldest-old population in the ageing society.'